Mobile-marketing experts advise against purely mobile campaigns

Michael Bayle, senior vice president and general manager of ESPN Mobile, noted that clients should make clear of their objectives before deciding which platform to use. Bayle cited ESPN parent company Disney as an example, The company has seen 5 per cent of total ticket sales for its theme parks coming from mobile devices, and has begun placing mobile ads to raise awareness and drive sales.

In other cases, he said, mobile games can be a good platform for clients to find their audience.

“Some clients develop a mobile app for everything, but the main issue is not the construction, but the maintenance, because they are at the store forever,” he told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “Clients must understand why they want to have an app before they begin to develop it. Don’t rush into it, be a follower."

Nick Seckold, head of digital at Mindshare Asia Pacific, meanwhile, noted that the challenge for mobile is the value of impressions. Measurement is one of the barriers preventing higher digital ad spending.

“Not everything can be measured, but clients know their consumers are using these devices, so they will try them out to engage with their consumers," he said.

Between 10 and 15 per cent of the total ad budget goes to mobile currently, he said.

Both Bayle and Seckold noted that the combination of social and mobility is the next trend to watch. This involves automatic content recognition (ACR) technology, which can allow mobile devices to automatically display content that complements a TV program the consumer is watching.

“Social TV is the trend," Bayle said. "Surveys have shown that 90 per cent of the ESPN viewers use iPad while watching TV."